Jewels

It's been a long time since I've written in my blog. Don't know how it got away from me, but I'm going to try and keep up with it better now. There's so much to do in a day. I have a new horse now, and it's been almost a year since I bought her. An APHA registered mare, 9 years old last month. She's 14.1 hands tall, with a heart as big as Texas. Even with the weight I carry, she can pack me around all day and seemingly never tires. I named her Jewels. It sort of fits her personality.

When I first got her, she was spooky and unsocial, having been in a pasture with horses that picked on her, she became quite skittish to handle. It took me a few months to get her to settle in enough I could catch her without a problem. We spent many days in the round pen, teaching her to send and come to me. Now she's the first one out of the pasture to greet me. I began riding her consistently about 3 months ago. She's a bit to fast on her feet yet, but I've been working on the stop and go to slow her pace down. She's coming along quite nicely now.

God loves all his creatures...

Makayla and Happy...

You got to love kids and dogs.

O' Christmas Tree...

I never thought I'd have a white Christmas tree, with purple and pink decorations. Though I thought I'd never have a little girl, either. he he! My Granddaughter certainly has an interesting look on life.

Holy cow...

It's been almost a month since I posted anything. There's not been much going on in the way of outside activities. I'm still not able to ride or mess with the horses either. My leg is still bothering me. There is only a nagging pain left, and it drives me bonkers. Plenty of medication to screw the ole stomach up too. ack! I'm going to have to get some pro-biotics after I'm through to get my stomach back in good working order. And, being a fat lady doesn't help the matters any better. I've managed to gain 9 pounds from the steroids this past month. I'm lucky I haven't put on more. I'm just not built to sit idle. The smell of food seems to attract the poundage. ha ha! Any who... we're off to the grocery store to get some food that won't simply attach to my ass. Atleast I can walk for short distances now, without the excruciating pain. Eating food that Ronnie cooks is lethal to my body. I'm going to have to take control of my own weight management. Awww well, he means well. : )

Still sick and tired of being sick and tired!

It's the second week in a row. I've been down in my lower extremities with muscle aches and pains. Three ping pong size muscle cramps. The massage therapist has been slowly working these little buggers out. The pain, while massaging these areas are excruciating. I'm quite sure this happened when I was under my horses. You have to give Farriers the props they deserve. It's a physically challenging occupation. And most of the ones I've encountered are nearly half my age and much stronger than I ever was at their age. I'm not one to give up though. I did plug away early this morning on my mare. I pulled up the mounting block close to her, placed it near her front leg, sat my happy ass down on the block and rasped away at the over grown heel. Thank God for the small favors he has bestowed on me in my hour of stupidity. She stood quietly and patiently while humoring my need to "get'er done" mode. I can't say enough about this mare. She certainly has a easy way of doing exactly what I need at the right time.

Sick and tired of being sick and tired!

I've taken one more hit to the ole body recently. On Friday, my leg gave out. My first intial reaction was, it was my knee. However after evaluation of my predicament, I leaned more to it being located in the hip region. I could hardly walk at all. Ron dug out the crutches in the storage shed. It helped tremendously. After a lot of rest and flat of my back for the entire weekend, I decided it was time to see a Dr. I had already contacted the Dr.'s office on Thursday because I knew something wasn't quite right. So, Monday, it was off to the Chiropractor. I mulled through all of his questions and realized after much deliberation, it wasn't my hip either. He said " Your back is out of line and you've pulled some muscles. Yikes! It's off to therapy and a message therapist for 3 days to help with the unwinding of some of the muscles attached to my lower spine. Little did I know that this would cause a chain reaction into my lower leg area. Any how, my life is getting better again with the second go around of therapy. I have one more visit of Friday. I feel pretty good at this point, but I certainly need more ajustments.

Home hoof care!

We finally broke down and bought some tools to do our own horses hooves. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I simply got tired of farriers and their talk of natural hooves, with no decent results. I've finally got Jerzey rocking along on all fours without any issues with lameness after trimming. Yay! She's traveling heel first, except for the club foot on the right front. That foot is going to be challenging without some knowledgeable help. I've never owned a horse with this particular problem. When I bought her almost two years ago, I was aware of the problem, but chose to overlook it. I've never felt, for any reason to throw away a good opportunity, just because things weren't perfect at the time. Her recovery seems to be quicker since the shoes had been removed nearly 90 days ago. A horse, the previous farrier claimed, would never be sound barefoot.

Left Front

Bottom Left Front

Right Front (Club)

Bottom Right Front (Club) 

Right Rear

Bottom Right Rear

Left Rear

Bottom Left Rear

We obviously still have a ways to go. How ever, the results from our last trim are, leaps and bounds from the previous professional results. No lameness issues and heel first landing. And!, no friggin stumbling! I'm not sure where to go from here, but as long as I learn to read my horses posture better, how their hooves land on the ground and no limb soreness, I'm confident I'll be moving in the right direction. Jerzey is even riding comfortably over rocky terrain. Something she never did, even with her shoes on.